CAIRO, June 28 (UPI) -- Cairo will be forced to address the 30-year-old emergency law if opposition supporters respond en masse, the Muslim Brotherhood said.
Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif asked lawmakers in May to pass the 2-year extension of the state of emergency declared following the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
The formal extension removes measures regarding telephone surveillance, media censorship and the use of public space. It extends, however, the power to detain suspected terrorists and others posing a security threat.
Nazif said the emergency law was necessary to protect citizens
The National Front for Change, an advocacy group led by Egyptian diplomat Mohammed ElBaradei, is seeking 1 million signatures backing a petition calling for constitutional reforms.
ElBaradei, meanwhile, led protests last week in the northern Egyptian city of Alexandria. The demonstrations were sparked by the death of Khaled Saeed, a 28-year-old allegedly killed by police in early June.
The Muslim Brotherhood said on its Ikhwanweb site that the only hope for review of the emergency law was if ElBaradei and opposition supporters were able to endure.
"The regime will be compelled to respond if the number of signatures is noticeably high since changes come in numbers," the outlawed opposition political party said.
